Melbourne Storm’s Fijian debutant, Isaac Lumelume, dedicated his first NRL jersey to his mum “up in heaven”.
Lumelume was the Storm’s man-of-the-match in the 30-6 win over Manly on Sunday, running for 168m and making a line break.
Prior to the game, Lumelume told his teammates at captain’s run that he was dedicating his first NRL jersey to his late mum.
In video the Storm released overnight, St Kent’s old boy Suli Vunivalu presents Lumelume with his first NRL jersey.
“It’s been a long time coming but not that long,” he says in the video as his teammates laugh.
“This jersey is for my mum up in heaven. I made a promise to myself that I would get that jersey for her and I’ve finally done it, thanks.”
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was full of praise for Lumelume, who hadn’t played a full 13-a-side game for most of the season.
“He did a terrific job, I thought,” Bellamy told NRL.com.
“He had a couple of games earlier – a game of sevens and a game of tens – so to come out and play like that was a big effort. He was really aggressive with his running and is following in the footsteps of Fijian wingers that have played for our club.”
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